Petr Yan started his rule over the Bantamweight Division with a brutal victory over perhaps the largest featherweight hunter of all time.
The Russian fan favorite Petr Yan returns to action at UFC Abu Dhabi in the coming Saturday when he accepts the rising Bantamweight Marcus Mcghee.
Initially when the fight was booked, UFC fans were not only confused by the matchmaking, but Merab Dvalishvili even doubted the fighting booking, which stated that the division is 'very stuck'.
Not only that, but to make things even more confusing, before he accepted the bizarre fight against 'the maniak', Yan claimed that he had been promised a title fight.
Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
Yan brutally completed Jose Aldo to start his short Bantamweight title
'No Mercy' Yan has long been considered one of the best active Bantamweight hunters and his former enemy Sean O'Malley even called him the most difficult hitter he has ever confronted.
When the Russian striker debuted in the UFC in 2018, it immediately became clear that one day he would probably compete for the 135LB title.
And it was only two years later when he finally got his title shot when he was booked to take on Jose Aldo for the empty title at UFC 251 in Abu Dhabi.
Initially the event would take place in Perth, but it was moved to the famous Fight Island because of the COVID-19 Pandemie.
The two hunters came out quickly and it became clear that it would be a huge fight. The Russian almost ended the fight in the first round, but Aldo was saved by the bell.
Despite the success of Yan in the first round, the former Federweight champion put it in in rounds two and three and started dominating the fairs.
But when in round four, Yan took over again in the fight and dominated the Brazilian, causing him to hurt several times. And in round five he finally got the finish when he dropped Aldo with an uppercut and then ended the fight with ground and pounds.
UFC 251 made more than 1 million ppv purchases, making it the largest outside a Conor McGregor fight
After Yan vs Aldo was a huge Co-Main event featherweight title Rematch between Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway.
And then in the main event, Kamaru Usman defended his welterweight title against Jorge Masvidal, and completed a huge triple header of title fights.
With that UFC 251 eventually became the largest event of the UFC ever that was not supplied by Conor McGregor, which surpasses more than 1 million PPV purchases, making it one of the largest events ever.